Like mushrooms
Eight commercial buildings planned for Hailey
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
A flurry of development requests submitted recently to Hailey city
planners by everyone from local business people to California developers confirms what
many already knew—everyone, it seems, wants a piece of Hailey.
The projects include:
A multi-building, master-planned shopping complex north of the city.
A state-of-the-art workplace for two high-tech recruiting firms.
A three-story commercial building on Main Street just south of the town
center.
Also in the works is a request to create a seven-lot subdivision in the
business district near the north end of River Street.
California-based Farallon Development Services, Inc. has scheduled a
meeting for March 21 with the city’s planning and zoning commission to present a
master plan to build a 35,000-square-foot grocery store, three retail/office spaces
totaling over 40,000 square feet and a gas station.
Located on seven acres north of Empty Saddle Trail adjacent to Highway 75,
the project, developers say, will require a full-service traffic light at the main
entrance to the center.
So far, according to project planner and architect James Murray, no
prospective tenants have been selected. Rather, he said during a telephone call from his
Boise office, the developer hopes to get city support for the project beforehand.
If all goes as planned, groundbreaking for another project, a new
12,000-square-foot corporate headquarters for high-tech recruiters Trouver.net and
Futurelink, will begin in June.
Located at the corner of Silver and River streets, the building has been
designed by Ketchum-based Living Architecture to promote a healthy and happy work
environment by addressing indoor air quality and using natural light and materials
extensively, according to a press release.
Futurelink and Trouver.net chiefs Hallie Shealy and Lisa Wood hope the
building’s worker-friendly attributes will increase productivity and job
satisfaction, according to the release.
On Main Street adjacent to Pine Street, ex-Hailey P&Z commissioner
Eric Alberdi plans to build an 18,000-square-foot, three-story commercial/retail building
called Pine Street Station.
Discussion of the project during a Feb. 18 meeting with the P&Z
centered largely on whether city code requires a 15-foot setback for a proposed detached
parking garage bordering an alley.
Alberdi wanted a zero-foot setback, which could require moving, altering
or demolishing some nearby dwellings because they extend over property lines.
"I hate to say it," Alberdi said, "but that’s somebody
else’s mistake."
